HOUSE price inflation has risen in every part of the UK except for the North-East and London, Government figures showed last night.

The Office for the Deputy Prime Minister said that nationally, the year-on-year inflation rate rose to 13.9 per cent in June, from 12.2 per cent in May.

But inflation in the North-East between May and June remained unchanged and was still the highest in the UK at 27.6 per cent.

This means that although house prices are still rising steadily in the region, the rate at which they are rising has not changed.

At the end of June, the average price of a UK property stood at £173,756 after a rise of 1.8 per cent during the previous month.

Figures showed that terraced houses had seen the strongest growth at 2.3 per cent, and flats the weakest at 1.3 per cent.

Despite the North-East topping the house price inflation tables, the region also had the lowest average house price at £123,204, which is £50,000 below the UK average.

Figures also showed there were fewer first-time buyers entering the market in the UK.

The Government figures agree with those from the Land Registry released yesterday, which said house prices in northern regions and Wales rose at more than twice the rate of those in the south.

Land Registry figures showed that Middlesbrough had the strongest rise in the UK, with prices soaring by 59 per cent between the second quarters of this year and last.

But the town's average property price still stood at only £90,744.